Can Hong Kong follow Singapore’s statutory master plan for development? Liu Thai Ker, architect of island state, says city can keep golf courses under such a blueprint

Liu, 85, ex-CEO of Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority, tells Post a plan based on population projection could set out land use for next half-century

But critic says both jurisdictions have very different styles of land use, with heavy private-sector involvement in Hong Kong

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People take in the view along Singapore’s waterfront in the island state’s central business district. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 9:00am, 8 Aug 2023Updated: 10:34am, 8 Aug 2023

Hong Kong needs a long-term statutory master plan for its development, the architect of modern Singapore has said while sharing his wealth of experience from the city state.

Liu Thai Ker, the 85-year-old former CEO of Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority who developed the country’s 50-year master development plan in 1991, suggested a similar model for Hong Kong.

Speaking to the Post after attending the Future City International Summit in Hong Kong on Thursday, Liu said such a plan, based on population projection, could list all necessary land uses in a 50-year period, including controversial ones such as the proposal to build public homes on part of the oldest golf course in the city.

“If you have a master plan, you calculate the land you need for development, you can keep the golf courses as we did,” Liu said.

Liu Thai Ker came up with Singapore’s 50-year master development plan in 1991. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Singapore reviews its long-term broad development strategies every decade and produces statutory city master plans every five years on permissible land use and density.

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